3/5/24 Lent Psalm 72 This Concludes…

3/5/24 Lent Psalm 72 

There is an interesting commentary in the last verse of Psalm 72. From here for the next 30 psalms or so, it seems the worship pastor has taken over. Asaph is attributed with most of the next 30 psalms. A few are unnamed. They even throw in a song from Moses just for good measure. But until Psalm 101, we don’t read that David wrote another psalm. Verse 20 of Psalm 72 says, “This concludes the prayers of David, son of Jesse.” 

I wonder what is going on there. Is David taking a sabbatical from praying and psalm writing. I’ve felt like that before, just all prayed out. Had a great revival. Did 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Finished Lent. Whatever, I just feel like I’ve have prayed everything I know to pray for a while, and I need a few days off. This might surprise you, but I think that’s alright. There are those times when the deep meditations of the heart are just not there. Everything is good. God loves me and I love Him, and we just take a little break.  

Oh, I don’t mean I stop praying altogether. Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.” Richard Foster said, “Prayer is not something I do. It is something I am.” If we breath, we pray. But there are those times where the long, intense, heartfelt, gut-wrenching prayers are just not there and rather than feel guilty about that, I spend a little more time in the Word, I focus on my praise time, and I trust that God will lead me back to the “garden of prayer.” Don’t send me mean emails. 😊 Just pray for me. But there are times when prayer is not as powerful or as pertinent as other times. 

But there is another possibility. Psalm 72 comes in this general section called the Psalms of Lament. We have talked a lot about David’s weeping and wailing. He said yesterday, “Rescue me and deliver me.” He seems to very often be saying, “How long, O Lord, will You let my enemies get the best of me.” I have had those times too. And in those times, I want to say, “This is my last prayer. I have tried. God’s not coming through. I quit.” Let me clear, that’s NOT alright. As Doris’s dad would say, “That ain’t no good.”  

In the days where God is good and you are too, life is going pretty well, and you really just can’t think of much to pray about. Take a break and read a good book. But on these kinds of days, when it is hard, the devil seems to be winning, your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, that is not the time to quit. Then we double down. We throw in fasting. We get 2 0r 3 people to agree with us. We pray longer, and more often. Listen, if you are there and you want to write, “This concludes the prayers of me,” DON’T. That is the time to pray more.  

I have found that at those places I am very often right at a breakthrough. “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t conclude. God is about to open the windows of heaven and meet that need you have prayed about for so long. In verse 19, David prays, “Praise be to His glorious Name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory.” 

When He does that, when you are there, praise Him and take a few days off.